High approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Cabinet may be masking real dangers, including soaring military spending, testing the nuclear red line, and the return of militarist thinking under the cover of public support, said a commentary by China Global Television Network (CGTN) published on Saturday.
Behind the approval numbers reported in Japanese media lies a dubious trend, as Japan's right wing forces package dangerous ideas in appealing narratives, often succeeding in misleading the younger generation.
According to the CGTN commentary, while promoting the image of "Cool Japan" through anime and pop culture abroad, politicians like Takaichi quietly revise history and reshape memory at home.
"While security rhetoric was hardening at home, Japan continued to project a softer image abroad. Anime, video games, fashion, cuisine, and popular culture became central elements of what was branded as 'Cool Japan'. This global appeal, though driven largely by market forces, was also supported by sustained government initiatives aimed at reshaping Japan's international image," said CGTN anchor Wang Guan.
"And if the end goal of a strategic re-branding is to plant the culture in the global imagination of the 21st century as a source of creativity, wonder, and future-facing, 'architects' shunned away from its own history of wars. Since 1982, the (Japanese) Ministry of Education has advised publishers to soften references to wartime aggression, changing the word 'invasion' into 'advance'," Wang continued.
During the Second World War, Japanese soldiers forced hundreds of women from other countries into sexual slavery. These came to be known as "comfort women."
Japan denied these crimes after the war, later coming to agreements to acknowledge and address the issue. However, successive Japanese political leaders have denied or minimized the coercive nature of the system, said the commentary.
"The most frustrating part of being a historian working in Japan and between countries in the East Asian neighborhood is when the Japanese government does something positive, such as the 1993 Kono Statement, which accepted Japanese government responsibility for the system of militarized sexual slavery, then subsequent governments pull the rug out and say 'Well, no, that's not actually what happened.' And so progress is made, for example, textbooks actually became much, much better by the early 2000s, and then fast forward to today, when no mention is made not only of the Comfort Women, Unit 731, Nanjing Massacre, all of these known, well-documented historical atrocities that Japanese school children never learn about," said Alexis Dudden, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut, in an interview with CGTN.
"And it's to the real detriment of Japanese society, because the knowledge is there, and it's simply a political game that some leaders used to shore up their own support," said Dudden.
Real dangers hide beneath Takaichi cabinet's approval ratings: commentary
Real dangers hide beneath Takaichi cabinet's approval ratings: commentary
